The Safe Room

by ASA BRET PRINCE

The reason for having a safe room is straightforward To provide short-term security and protection for the occupants of a home, yacht, of lice, or hotel while they wait for help to arrive. A person who seeks shelter' in a safe room should Immediately communicate wrth the police or a security professional.

EXPERT ADVICE

A safe room should be designed to resist ballistic. forced entry and chemical attack,' says Thomas Gaffney, CEO of Gaffco in New York, one of the country's leading builders of safe rooms. "Each of our safe rooms is custom built to suit the particular customers needs. Our rooms are also deSigned to blend with the existing surroundings, making them architecturally pleasing yet secure enough to protect to the required threat level," Gaffney adds.

"A high-quality safe room should include cameras and monitors to look at the entrance to the room," says Paul Vlollis, president of Risk Controt Strategies in New York. "And it's a good Idea to have a clearly identifiable camera outside the doorway of the safe room as well as a hidden camera. That way, the intruder can be lured into destroying the visible camera and be unaware of the hidden camera, thereby giving some advantage to the safe room occupants"